Fantasy Football: Week 2 RB rankings

Bell-cow role secure, will McCaffrey blow up on Deion Jones-less Falcons?

By ARTHUR ARKUSH

Sept. 15, 2018

What did we learn about RB timeshares in Week 1? The Broncos, Ravens, Jets and Seahawks, among others, appeared to favor that approach, while the Panthers and Steelers were certainly comfortable leaving much of their heavy lifting to one dude.

We discussed James Conner in this space a week ago, where we incorrectly said he was unlikely to produce a Le'Veon Bell-like stat line. For that we apologize. We can't wait to see if he'll do it again.

But what about the Panthers' Christian McCaffrey, who played 85 percent of the offensive snaps in a game in which Carolina not only never trailed but led by two possessions roughly half the time. McCaffrey, who finished with 95 yards from scrimmage on 16 touches against a tough Dallas 'D,' now visits Atlanta, where the young Falcons are reeling a bit without Keanu Neal and Deion Jones.

McCaffrey attracted a game-high nine targets Sunday, parlaying them into 6-45 receiving, and could be in line for at least that many more chances in Week 2. The Falcons permitted a league-high 107 RB receptions last season and return pretty much the same personnel, save merely for their best coverage linebacker, the speedy Jones. McCaffrey also had 66 rushing yards in his first Falcons meeting, which happened to be his high-water mark as a rookie.

Whether the Falcons figure out their maddening offensive issues could determine the outcome of this game. Regardless of the game script, McCaffrey appears locked into the kind of role that should routinely produce better results than we saw vs. Dallas, beginning this weekend in an alluring matchup.